MedPage Today (9/19, D’Ambrosio) reports, “Women who lived in states with policies that punished women for substance use during pregnancy received worse prenatal and postpartum care, according to a cross-sectional study” published in JAMA Pediatrics.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

USA Today (9/19, Hassanein) reports “a staggering number of maternal deaths in the United States were found to be preventable, according to” a CDC report that found “more than 80%, or roughly 4 in 5 maternal deaths” from 2017 to 2019, “were due to preventable causes.” The analysis also “included a section on maternal deaths for American Indian and Alaska Native people,” which found “more than 90% of Indigenous mothers’ deaths were preventable.” The report is “based on figures from Maternal Mortality Review Committees” that are “based in 36 states.”

ABC News (9/19, Kekatos) says, “Mental health conditions…made up the plurality of deaths at 23%, the report found.” Additional “underlying causes of pregnancy-related death included hemorrhaging; heart conditions; infections; thrombotic embolism… cardiomyopathy…and high blood pressure.”

The Hill (9/19, Folmar) reports, “The leading causes of pregnancy-related death differed between ethnicities,” but “Black Americans were disproportionately affected.”

Related Links:

— “‘Staggering’ and ‘sobering’: More than 80% of US maternal deaths are preventable, CDC study shows “Nada Hassanein, USA TODAY, September 19, 2022

According to Kaiser Health News (9/19, Zurek, Rocha), refugees who arrive in the US “are 10 times as likely as the general population to have post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.” Many of these refugees, who “fled their homelands because of violence or persecution,” now “must deal with the mental toll of integrating into new environments.” Even though “their need for mental health services is greater than that of the general population, refugees are much less likely to receive such care,” not only because of “societal differences,” but also due to “the overall shortage of mental health” professionals in the US, as well as “the myriad obstacles and barriers to receiving mental health care that refugees encounter.”

Related Links:

— “Many Refugees Dealing with Trauma Face Obstacles to Mental Health Care ” Erica Zurek and Alander Rocha, Kaiser Health News , September 19, 2022

HealthDay (9/19, Reinberg) reports, “Nearly 10% of Americans suffer from depression, with the mood disorder increasing fastest among teens and young adults,” researchers concluded after examining data drawn from the 2015-2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In fact, “between 2015 and 2020, incidence of depression reached 9% among Americans 12 and older,” while “among teens and young adults, the depression rate stood at 17% in 2020, the researchers found.” One researcher “said it’s possible that growing feelings of helplessness and economic distress are fueling depression, the leading mental health disorder in the nation,” and “the COVID-19 pandemic has only made mental health worse.” The findings were published online Sept. 19 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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— “Depression Affects Almost 1 in 10 Americans “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay , September 19, 2022

Psychiatric News (9/15) reports, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, many American Indian youth reported feeling less connected to friends and less engaged in schoolwork,” but despite that, “many students also showed resilience at this difficult time,” investigators concluded in a study that included data on “2,559 American Indian students” from the “annual Our Youth, Our Future study, which collects nationally representative substance use data among middle and high school students who live on or near reservations.” The findingswere published online Sept. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “American Indian Youth Reported Relationship Problems but Remained Resilient During Pandemic, Psychiatric News , September 15, 2022